This could very well be the shortest blog you ever read – this New Year, or last!

That’s because, at the moment I decided to begin a series of blogs covering the megatrend of globalization, the New York Times decided to announce that it is dead.

Though the sentiment of this particular New York Times feature was fueled by the recent U.S. election of Donald Trump, I wanted to make sure that my particular viewpoints on globalization were still valid.

I decided to ring up my international clients to see if, in fact, globalization was on life support overseas as well. I was equally dismayed and discouraged to learn that the mainstream worldwide press seemed to concur – and even expand upon – the Times’ viewpoint. 

It seems that every unexpected world crisis during 2016, said observers, signaled the beginning of the end of globalization – think the initial financial crisis in Greece, to the immigration crisis, then Brexit, and now the Trump Era. The list goes on and on. Add in the deluge of chatter around the topic on social media, and you’d think we were standing on the brink of a worldwide rebellion against the G-word. 

Frankly, I have spent decades advising CEOs of mid-sized companies on the impact of globalization to their business, their bottom line, and their prospects for future growth. As I held these conversations, I realized that the term globalization itself seemed to represent too many things to too many people – all but ensuring that today, it probably means nothing to no one.

If, for you, that happens to be the case – let’s go back to school, because you’ll find that an education in international business development will be invaluable to your enterprise. Despite the inherent confusion around the term above, companies that have cracked the code of doing business on the world stage do, in fact, achieve more successful outcomes. 

Management Consulting powerhouse, McKinsey & Co. – which describes globalization as one of the “four disruptions to be reckoned with” – also attributes 36 percent of the global GDP to “flows of goods, services and finance,” another way of characterizing the import and export process. 

Now, lest you think that international business is the domain of the Fortune 500 set – think again! It’s true, Fortune 500 Companies have the resources to operate globally, and can leverage the power of global consulting firms to fine-tune their processes for operating on the international stage. 

And, for you, the CEOs of mid-sized companies, the impact of globalization is rarely top of mind. More often than not, the challenges and opportunities inherent in your current nationalized business model leave little time or resources to even consider globalization or international business development. 

But, the facts are simple: CEOs of mid-sized companies who add the “globalization perspective” to their go-to-market strategies reap rewards that can have a significant impact on bottom line. 

This is why I, and my fellow fractional CMOs at Chief Outsiders, always deliver a globalization and international business development perspective when engaging with our clients. And though our client base represents more than 300 mid-sized companies, across 40 different and diverse industries, we find that all of them benefit from such a global perspective. 

In fact, this keen worldview is a key value added benefit of Chief Outsiders, whom have covered their passports in stamps while conducting commercial activities across the globe. By working in the global marketplace, Chief Outsiders are able to define globalization, as it relates to your enterprise, from three key perspectives: 

* From inside your business looking OUT (how you see the world);

* From outside your business - looking IN (how the world sees you);

* From ALL sides – your business in the world

Ready to see what globalization can mean to your business, today and tomorrow? Stick with me – in my next blog, I’ll address each of these globalization perspectives.